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Public commentator, Obadiah Mailafia is dead

A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Obadiah Mailafia,, a known critic of the Nigerian government has been reported dead on Sunday morning at age 64 from an undisclosed illness.

Penpushing reports that, associate of the deceased, John Hayab, confirmed the sad incident, just as  a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has call for the probe of the death, stressing the the ugly development is fishy and  should be independently investigated.

The former presidential aide posited that there might be more to the death of Mailafia than meets the eyes considering his tough poistions on critical national issues, as he was known to be a popular public commentator who was always willing to share his view on public affairs.

Penpushing further reports that, Mailafia Mailafia was quite critical of the President Muhammadu-led administration especially on policy issues and insecurity, while it is recalled that, while appearing on a radio programme last year alleged that some pardoned terrorists revealed that a serving northern governor was a Boko Haram leader.

The former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was thereafter  invited by the State Security Service(SSS) for questioning based on the allegation, but later  retracted the claim, saying he had no evidence to defend it.

Penpushing also reports that it is recalled that, the deceased  alluded to the existence of a certain ‘Jigawa cabal’ that was enriching itself by frustrating the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN’s) effort to sustain the value of the Naira vis a vis the American dollar.

The late Mailafia  assumed office as Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN’s) Deputy Governor (Policy) on Monday, 9 May, 2005, and prior to his joining the bank, had served as the Chief Economist responsible for Strategic Planning and Corporate Reporting of African Development Bank (ADB) in Tunisia.

Penpushing also reports that, he was born on the 24 December, 1956 in Randa, Sanga Local Government Area of Kaduna State, attended Mada Hills Secondary School, Akwanga between 1970 and 1974 where he won the Commissioner of Education Award for Academic Distinction.

The late Mailafia  attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria from 1974 to 1978  for his post secondary education and graduated with BSc in Social Sciences with the highest grade of the graduating class in Political Science honors.

Penpushing reports that, between 1980 and 1982, he completed his Master’s degree while working as a Graduate Assistant at Ahmadu Bello University(ABU), Zaria, won a French Foreign Ministry Scholarship, which took him to France from 1984 to 1986 to study International Economics with M. Phil from the famous ENA-IIAP in Paris, France.

The deceased later completed his Doctoral Studies in 1994 and was awarded D.Phil at the University of Oxford in England with a specialty in International Economics and Political Economy.

Penpushing reports that,  Mailafia was a Foreign and Commonwealth Office Scholar and received the Webb Medley Award at the University of Oxford, and  had a distinguished career spanning academia, government, consulting, and international service.

The late former boss of Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN)  was a Fellow of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, while at some point on the teaching staff of Oxford University, United Kingdom.

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